Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Institutional Reform), Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said during a question and answer session at the Dewan Negara at Parliament Building, June 27, 2023. — Bernama photo
KUALA LUMPUR (June 27): The Dewan Negara today passed the Auditor-General’s Report 2021 Series 2 motion to review all the issues raised in the report, including leakages, non-compliance with regulations and weaknesses in planning to ensure they do not recur.
Tabled by Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Institutional Reform) Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said, the motion was passed after it was debated by 19 senators.
Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Institutional Reform) Ramkarpal Singh said the National Audit Department (JAN) would examine the issue of the lack of facilities for persons with disabilities (PwD) at some government buildings.
“In the implementation of the auditing of projects involving government buildings, JAN always considers the checklist related to the provision of facilities for the PwD as outlined in the relevant laws and regulations,” he said when winding up the debate on the motion in the Dewan Negara today.
Health Minister Dr Zaliha Mustafa said a total of 8.5 million Covid-19 vaccine doses of various brands were disposed of as of June 1 this year.
Senator Datuk Mohd Hatta Md Ramli asked whether the strategy of targeting 100 per cent of the population getting the vaccines in the purchase of the Covid-19 vaccines was appropriate, Dr Zaliha said she agreed with the matter raised.
“We made such a projection because there was a surplus, we made the procurement, we increased (the vaccines) to ensure 80 per cent of the population is vaccinated to achieve herd immunity,” she said.
Deputy Transport Minister Hasbi Habibollah said the Road Transport Department’s (JPJ) digitisation initiative would be expanded to other vehicle categories in phases to include individual vehicles owned by companies, commercial vehicles and vehicles owned by non-citizens.
“The JPJ digitisation initiative includes the motor vehicle licence (eLKM) and the Malaysian driving licence (eLMM) where no more physical cards are issued to license holders.
“Under the first phase, all Malaysian individual private vehicle owners are exempted from displaying physical LKM and LMM documents and are allowed to submit digital copies of eLKM and eLMM through the MyJPJ application,” he said, adding the use of physical documents is minimal for certain categories only.
Meanwhile, the Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Food Security Chan Foong Hin said payments for the Padi Rice Subsidy Scheme (SSHP) were still made to deceased farmers because their next-of-kin did not report their deaths and continued working the rice fields.
“All records of deceased rice farmers reported in LKAN have been deactivated in the system and the next of kin have been asked to re-register their accounts to benefit from the SSHP,” he said.
The Auditor-General’s Report was debated for the first time in the Dewan Negara. — Bernama